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Movie Reviews this week looks at the science fiction Push. This is a strangely enjoyable sci-fi movie. I half expected it to be similar to Jumper, and Wanted with james McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, and the plot does get a little convoluted. It stars the lovely Dakota Fanning(The secret lives of Bees, I believe that was her sister in Phoebe in Wonderland) as Cassie Holmes and Chris Evans(Street Kings, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four) as Nick Gant. Two Americans who have found themselves in Hong Kong, in a race against time to find another girl Kira Bird played by the lovely Camille Belle( you might find something about her eyes being strangely familiar, ofcourse she was Evolet in 10,000 BC) in the hope to bring down the secret agency that has been hunting them down, and making their lives and those of their families hell.

They all have special abilities, and this is where it can get a little confusing, Pushers can push thoughts into people making them believe what they want, and do what they want, Movers can move objects, Watchers can predict the future(ofcourse the future is subject to change), Stitchers can stitch people back together that have been injured even those injured by Bleeders, who have the ability to echo high auditory screams that can smash glasses, damage ear drums, blood vessels, and literally move objects and people, Sniffers can literally find anyone just from touching their belongings, just like a dog, Wipers can wipe memories, Shifters can move patterns of light around objects to change the shape and appearance, we get to meet a shifter played by the fantastic Cliff "The Chameleon" Curtis as Hook Waters, and Shadows can prevent people by being found by Sniffers. From the all action beginning of the Push where the young Nick Gant has to run away from the antagonist Henry Carver played by Djimon Hounsou(Amistad, Never Back Down), to the confrontations between Nick and Victor Budarin played by Neil Jackson (Quantun of Solace, Blade: The series), it is a non-stop action flick, with interesting plot twists many are sure to enjoy Push.

Hit and Run is a Hollywood action comedy movie written by Dax Shepard, with David Palmer and Dax Shepard co-directing. The film stars Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Kristin Chenoweth, Tom Arnold, and Bradley Cooper.

One of the delights of life is to sometimes unexpectedly behold a little-known gem that thrills you with its ingenuity. Usually one experiences this in an old film. To find this in a film playing in the theatres now is sheer luck.

'Hit And Run' is one such film made by a passionate bunch of people, which but for a relatively lesser known cast and bad luck of not having a better studio patronising it, would have been the toast of the town.

Under witness-protection in small town in America, Charlie (Dax Shepard) falls in love with Annie (Kirsten Bell). When she gets a new job in Los Angeles, Charlie decides to drop her off despite the possible dangers. Annie's jealous ex-lover not only follows them, but gets both his cop brother and Charlie's arch-enemy Alex (Bradley Cooper) on their tail.

What follows is a hilarious ride where a doctorate in non-violent conflict resolution is paired with a former bank robber trying desperately to control himself, a nutty ex-lover crossing path with an accident prone federal marshal with a gay cop and his nerdy partner and a crazy gangster in hot pursuit through rural America.

'Hit and Run' literally hits and runs over you with its ingenious and delightful humour. Be warned though for you can't expect the over the top, outlandish comedy Hollywood is known for.

Instead you have a very refined comedy riding on some very sophisticated writing and neatly conceptualised sequences and well thought out characters and their idiosyncrasies.

Amongst all the good things about the film, the best are its writing and romance. The writing of the romance is so real and observant of couple's mannerisms of debate and fights, that it is surprising to see it on screen. That the lead pair of Dax and Kirsten are real life couples, perhaps helps the believability of their love.

More than commerce, the film is a work of sheer passion where Dax Shepard not only plays the lead but is also the writer, co-director, co-producer and co-editor of the film. He and David Palmer, who have co-directed a forgettable film before, refine their creative partnership in this. The sophistication of the film might prove to be a drawback at the box office, as viewers expecting a typical comedy might be surprised by it and not many pleasantly so. However, those who enjoy a good sprinkling of intelligence in their comedies will have a rocking time.

Hit and run is a perfect movie to go with your partner as it mixes and satiates the urges of both parties involved - the need for romance and the urge for masculine cars and thrilling action.

The Hindi Film Industry in India has emerged as one of the most popular and acknowledged movie industries across the globe. The remarkable talent of all Indian actors and actresses is being highly appreciated worldwide. However, keeping aside the Global recognition the industry is gaining swiftly, one cannot ignore the tremendous fan following achieved by Bollywood every year. With more films are produced in India, the more is the craze for the industry. Moreover, the massive promotions and popularity of the movie before release assures an outstanding response by the fans on the first day of the release itself. Not just pre-release, but the popularity and reputation of the film after the release also adds to the degree of fan following towards. Bollywood latest reviews on new releases thus are read/watched with much enthusiasm and interest.

Considering the increasing number of movies getting released on the big screen and changing public interest, various expert reviews contribute significantly in forming opinions about a particular bollywood flick. The several Bollywood latest reviews that are printed on paper or recorded on T.V. talk about the film in a holistic manner. Not just the entertainment point of view but other aspects are also examined. Sometimes such reviews might become difficult to comprehend by the countless viewers/readers. The question that arises here is that how credible or believable are these reviews?

The answer to this depends on the honesty and reputation of the film critic who conceives the review. It is a common perception that the latest bollywood reviews might be paid or manipulated in favor of the respective production house or for some other commercial interest. However, one cannot deny the credibility of few famous bollywood channels, programs and newspaper who hold the prime objective of analyzing facts and putting them across in an appropriate manner to the several movie buff all over India. Such platforms can be trusted, as they find no commercial interest in misinterpreting news and facts of the much loved Hindi Film Industry. Also, Social Media is consumer-friendly medium and posting of latest movie reviews on this has lesser scope of being hampered or influenced by external factors. In addition, such reviews deal mostly with entertainment thus, keep the audiences engaged and interested in regular updates of latest movie reviews. General discussions and interactions can then follow.

The Indian Film and Entertainment Industry is mushrooming at a rapid pace and so is the ever-growing interest and love of its fans across the globe. Be it any personal event of their favorite celebrity, some latest happening or the entertaining award functions, any sort of bollywood latest news is enjoyed on the coffee table by many movie fans in India and abroad.

The Nikon D3100 is the best entry-level digital SLR currently available. A host of features and excellent image quality sends this camera to the top of the pack. There are some half-baked ideas though, like the difficult full-time AF in video implementation, but this is something that can hopefully be worked out in future iterations.

The D3100 is the latest entry-level Nikon DSLR in a line that dates back four years to the D40 and, in arguably the biggest upgrade yet, gains two key features: live view and movie recording. Both of these were starting to look like awkward omissions, and are made possible by the D3100's new 14Mp sensor. Despite this it successfully continues the emphasis on offering unintimidating ease-of-use, with the controls for the new features unusually well-integrated into the body design.

However, while the D3100 represents a specification upgrade over a family of cameras we've generally liked, in some respects it has found itself rather out-paced by the market. When we reviewed the D3000 it was one of the only large sensor cameras that encouraged the novice user to make the most of its capability, and it did so without interfering with more hands-on operation of the camera. However this is becoming increasingly common, particularly with mirror less cameras that more readily replicate the compact-camera user experience while still offering DSLR-standard image quality.

The D3100 offers little to complain about in terms of image quality, and its new 14Mp sensor delivers very good results. High ISO performance is substantially improved over the D3000, to the extent that images shot at sensitivities as high as D3200 are eminently useable (although as is often the case with APS-C cameras, the extended 'Hi' settings equivalent to 6400 and 12800 are distinctly ambitious).

It offers a good amount of highlight dynamic range to prevent bright detail being lost (avoiding washed-out skies for instance) but this is often wasted by its default, 'matrix' metering mode that can overexpose in high-contrast conditions. Sadly the impressive low-shadow noise characteristics of the D7000 (and the other cameras using similar sensors), haven't yet filtered down to cameras in the D3100's class, so the image quality is pretty consistent with its peers.

The entry-level Nikons have always been among our favorites in this class to actually go out and shoot with, and likewise the D3100 is, on the whole, a very pleasant camera to use. The addition of the drive mode lever is a welcome update to the underlying D40 design, and the new live view/movie controls are well-placed and easily to operate. Nikon's trademark dedication of the four-way controller to AF point selection also makes the D3100 probably the best camera in its class for manual selection of off-center autofocus points. This, in turn, makes it easy to make the best of what is one of the most sophisticated AF systems available in this class.

If there's one quibble we have with normal shooting operation, though, it's to do with ISO setting (which is not Nikon's strong point in general). This is a control which we think should be easily changeable with the camera to your eye, which is ever-more important now that high ISOs are eminently more useable than they were just a few years ago. On the D3100 the only way to do this is via the customizable 'Fn' button, which is slightly awkwardly-placed on the left side of the camera, and easily mixed up with the adjacent flash activation button. Also the currently-set ISO is only displayed in the viewfinder when you're changing it (and never at all in Auto ISO) - many other cameras now display it all the time, which is far more useful.

Switch the D3100 into Live View and it soon becomes clear that while there are some things it's very good at, in other respects its behavior is distinctly less than perfect. It has unusually fast live view AF for an SLR, which goes a long way towards making the mode more generally useful for everyday shooting. It's still not as fast and seamless as the mirrorless cameras that are designed specifically for compact-camera style live view usage.

There are also a few odd behavioral quirks in live view and movie mode, with aperture control that can only be described as buggy. For example, the camera won't necessarily shoot videos at the aperture that's displayed on the screen when you press 'record', although it will when shooting stills. The lack of any kind of exposure level indication when using manual mode and live view is also a strange omission. What this means is that the D3100's two key new features simply don't work as well as they should - and crucially not as well as on competing models.

There's no doubt that the D3100 is one of the best entry-level SLRs available, offering very good image quality coupled with speedy operation and straightforward handling - at least for conventional eye-level use. Where it's less strong is in the implementation of the new features that have been added over the D3000, i.e. live view and movie mode. Neither is done badly, per se, and the improvement in CDAF speed is impressive, but they could still be better.

The D3100's guide mode is clearly aimed at attracting customers who have only used compact cameras, which makes the ability to offer a similarly fast live view focus and shooting experience a key consideration. And, while Nikon has done well to produce one of the better DSLRs in this respect (though the full time AF mode falls a little short of making live view use really immediate and fluid), both live view and video are quite simply done better by other cameras, particularly the D3100's mirrorless rivals.

Overall, we'd conclude that the Nikon D3100 is an excellent DSLR but make clear that a DSLR is no longer the only way to gain large sensor image quality at this price. As a result, while the D3100 would have been a stand-out camera 12 months ago, it's now simply a very good one in a market with plenty of equally good and potentially more interesting options.

That is indeed a good question for movie lovers. Answer to this question is - it depends. Yes, it depends on the reliability of the source.

Before we, dig deeper in that, let's first know what movie reviews are. These are honest feedbacks about movies. Now, the question comes- why we need these reviews? Answer to this is the fact that no one in this world has plenty of time. Everyone is too busy to waste time, but alongside, everyone is ready to spend few hours for quality entertainment. These reviews let us know if the movie we are opting to watch deserves to be watched or not.

There is no rigid format for it, but it generally includes answers to questions like- should you watch that film? What was precisely good about the movie? What is there that may disappoint you in the film? What do people think about it? Is the storyline good enough to be watched? Have the actors done their job well? Through the answers to these questions, (and several other similar questions) it guides you if you should go ahead and watch it or not.

But since there are lot of users that search for reviews on internet, people have started using it for commercial use. Now, there are websites that don't put honest review, rather manipulate the truth and misguide users. Reviews from such websites will surely be deceptive.

So, what should a user do? How can anyone judge the credibility of a website?

That is quite simple. Whenever you get reviews from a website, don't just read it and accept it. You must also check its other reviews (especially reviews of those movies, which you have already seen). This will give you a fair idea about the authenticity of that website.

If all the website does is boasting about every single movie, then you better know it is fake and misguiding you. However, if says bad for the movie that are really the same and good for the good ones, then go ahead and trust it blindly.

That is a small trick that can be used by anyone to judge the trustworthiness of a website that offers to provide honest feedback of movies.

Now, as you are aware of how to judge a website. Go ahead and pick some movies for yourselves, which you can watch in times when you need to be entertained. All the best!

Online reviews are easy to find nowadays. Every seller is aware of the immense power that the internet holds. It is capable of altering your opinion regarding anything. It is a known fact that you trust what past customers have to say about the product. The problem with online reviews is that you cannot see the reviewers. They may not be customers at all; they could possibly just be salespeople or marketing people in the disguise of customers, saying what they would want to say through promotions. So the next time you read your customer reviews is careful to verify whether they really are customers. Of course there is no way to verify an online review. However this article does allow you to make an educated guess.

*Watch Who Is Talking: Sometimes it is almost obvious that the online reviews have been posted by the marketers themselves. For instance suppose you were to look at hotel reviews or camera reviews, and you find them in the form of customer testimonials online. One thing is sure, that these reviews have been screened and only the best ones have been published. Simply because no one would want to put up a testimonial which puts them in negative light? So it is simply a matter of not getting influenced by the salesperson.

*Trust Reputed Sites: Branded and trusted review sites are your best recourse. This is true if you are looking for movie reviews, car reviews or book reviews. In these cases you will realize what the product was only after you have purchased it. So just don't log on to any website looking for online reviews. They are sometimes carefully planted to influence you. Some websites have a reputation of being unbiased and it is best to listen to them.

*Watch The Links: If you were to go ahead and look for online reviews, let's say insurance reviews. You enter a forum, read an opinion and just below that you find a link redirecting you. It is obvious that the opinion was meant to influence you. Why would a normal user post any links? So understand that it either an affiliate marketer or the marketers themselves. When you log on to get reviews, just look at the number of links that are pasted below opinions. If there are many, you are entering an ad zone and it almost impossible that you get any unbiased advice here. It is best that you go to a different site. Of course for some product reviews like hardware reviews and software reviews sites are hard to find, but there still are plenty of them. All you need to do is first check the reputation of the site you are surfing.

*Negative Content: This is one of the best differentiators between genuine online reviews and disguised promotional messages. Almost any marketer will make sure that there is no negative content about them. On the other hand not all customers may like the product. There are bound to be negative reviews. So their presence in sufficient quantity tells you, you are talking to the right people.

Waheeda Rehman is a great yesteryear actress, known for enacting her roles with finesse. She is considered to be one of the most popular movie stars of the Indian Film industry. She was born in a conservative Muslim family from the place called Chengalpattu in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Acting in what was known as the golden age of the Hindi movie industry, she made a mark for herself with her brilliant performance. Even though she wanted to become a doctor, her poor health did not allow her to be one. Nevertheless, Waheeda Rehman was trained as a classical dancer in Bharatanatyam. With the help and support from her parents, she acted in almost four movies in Chennai. In her movie Rojulu Marayi, she did a folk dance, which became an instant hit.

While she was enjoying each moment of her success, at Hyderabad,, she was offered a role of vamp in Guru Dutt's film CID. This film became a large success and Waheeda Rehman was offered the lead role in the 1957 film Pyaasa. With hints of being linked with director Guru Dutt, she drifted apart from him after the release of Kaagaz Ke Phool in the year 1959.

But, with the film Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), they came back together. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was another film which saw Waheeda and Guru Dutt together. This movie was not received well at the Berlin Film Festival.

After the death of Guru Dutt, she went ahead and acted in several successful movies by other well-acclaimed directors. Her role in Guide, won her rave reviews and the Filmfare Award for best actress. The 1968 movie Neel Kamal too was a major success. She went on to win the National Award for her sensational performance in Reshma Aur Shera. But, some of her movies didn't do well. Her co-star in Shagun, Kamaljit went on to marry her and both have two children Kashvi and Sohail.

After Kamaljit passed away, Waheeda Rehman relocated to Mumbai and started acting after almost 12 years gap. This time she played the elderly roles as mother or grandmother. Her films Om Jai Jagdish, Rang De Basanti, Water and Delhi 6 are received well by the audience.

Waheeda participated in audience discussion about her most triumphant movies in a Waheeda Rehman film presentation. Even when some fans consider Khamoshi to be her best film, some others also believe that her remarkable performances in Teesri Kasam, Pyaasa and Guide will never be forgotten.

It is said that the movie makers in Bollywood who are able to feel the pulse of the common man, can deliver the hit movies. A hit movie is one, which by the box office standards, is able to garner the maximum response financially in the early days of its release or even after some months. In other words, a hit movie goes on to do business with recovery of its expenditure and above that gathers a lot of profit.

Among the Indian movies, there have been thousands of films which are released on a yearly basis. Not every one of them goes on to score hits in the box office. Some are high grosser while many others are not even able to recover their investments. But still the movie makers are carrying on unrelentingly producing and making cinema in Bollywood. Actors are roped in by production houses and the directors are brought on board, with hiring of many other technical people and then the movie gets completed. It will be extremely difficult to point a finger towards a movie that has done well in every aspect of the movie making.

Some Recipes for Hits:

Some are able to score good favours among the audiences because they have a good star cast while others run along smoothly because their story is good. In some, which doesn't have a big name in their cast, get into the hit movie list because the acting has been superb.

Sometimes the music, song and dance become the saviour of the movies. With such different factors working for the Indian movies, it is extremely difficult to point out a particular factor that really works for the audiences. There was a time when action movies were given a go by, by the audiences. In present times, a number of movies of the same genre have registered the cash at the box office.

There was a time when love stories and wedding based movies were seen in large number and movies like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun ran through silver jubilee, diamond jubilee and even ran for full year in some theatres in India.

Some producers brought up movie in the genre of horror and tried to give a spooky experience to the audiences. These movies didn't ring the bells to a large extent.

There have been instances where movies from Hollywood and down south were remade or the idea was recaptured in the Indian movies and some did well in the box office while others failed miserably. The directors and producers were at a loss for explaining these phenomena.

Experimenting:

Although some stories and ideas have worked, there were many Indian movies with the same ideas which failed miserably. In such a scenario, it is always difficult for the movie makers to come out with a movie recipe which will work with guarantee. People have accepted many things in the movies these days and the movie makers are trying to put in many things in front of them. Some get accepted while others are rejected.

But, Bollywood keeps on churning movies from the sets where every director, actor, cameraman, song composer, and other people involved in the movie making hope that their movies get the box office nod. This style of movie making which doesn't follow any set formula is basically an experiment with different subjects. At the end of the day, every producer or director can only hope for the best and start a new movie with fresh enthusiasm.

Movie Reviews this week looks at the charming biographical drama An Education. It stars the lovely Carey Mulligan (Bleak House) as Jenny, a very bright sixth former, on her way to studying English at Oxford, currently studying her A levels during 1961. She is pushed by her well meaning father Jack, played with a great deal of melancholy by Alfred Molina (Dr. Octavius in Spider-man 2), and her supportive mother Marjorie, played by Cara Seymour (Hotel Rwanda), you can tell immediately from his demeanor that this is a little biographical if not the entire movie, there is a scene that gives an idea of how far things have changed where Jenny's boyfriend drives up to a black family waiting on the pavement playfully picks up one of the kids and takes them into an apartment, on returning Jenny asks how he knows those "Negroes"?.

As Jenny goes home one day after a cello lesson, a mysterious stranger David played by Peter Saarsgard (Jarhead), offers her a lift, well in fact he offers her cello a lift, saying he is worried such a lovely instrument would be damaged in the rain, and he wouldn't want her to jump in the car with a complete stranger, so she can walk while he drives. As a flirtatious teenager surprised at the attention she agrees, and after a short while walking and talking she enters the car and is dropped promptly at her front door.

He is charming enough, and soon he starts to stop outside of her school, and the inevitable romance commences, at first viewers may be a little perturbed why an older man would want to date a young school girl, but after sometime you do realise David does genuinely care for her. Surprisingly seeing he so well cultured, Jenny's father agrees to the liaison, then of course it is 1961, and he sees his daughter's options are either excelling academically and going to Oxford, or meeting a very wealthy and cultured individual, and being looked after, as he puts it "He wouldn't want you if you were thick".

David somehow manages to convince Jack to allow him to take his daughter on weekend trips, along with his friend Danny played by Dominic Cooper (The History Boys), and his girlfriend Helen played the gorgeous Rosamund Pike (Surrogates, there is a sarcastic scene where all four of them are in Oxford, and Danny mentions the dread of having to suffer for three years here, where Helen agrees, when in actuality Rosamund Pike did go to Oxford), and even to Paris. Jenny after sometime sees the rigmarole of going to school and studying hard only to find a boring job and be in it for the rest of her life, as too depressing and she confronts her headmistress played by Emma Thompson (I am Legend), after it is found that she is dating an older man; that could interfere with her education.

She states during this confrontation that her stance of leading a studious and boring life to get into Oxford only to enter into a studious and boring job for the rest of her life has to be justified, for future students who may have the same questions. An Education is a brilliant and well made movie, and you can see immediately why it has Oscar nominations protruding throughout, especially for it's main character Jenny played by Carey Mulligan.

Love and romance come in different shapes and sizes. But the usual prerogative of commercial cinema keeps us hooked to one 'ever after' or 'never ever' kind of romance. Thus, the major difference between most love stories made in the 1930s to 1940s Hollywood, and those made now, is only one of aesthetics and not of emotions or morality.

Then there is Woody Allen. For the past 40 years, he has been challenging our notions of love, romance, sex and lust. 'To Rome With Love', he is at it again. The master hasn't lost his voice as he comes out with one of his strongest films in recent years.

In the ancient city of Rome, different people fall in love with different things. A retired music producer (Woody Allen) discovers opera in the bathroom singing of his daughter's would be father-in-law. An old architect (Alec Baldwin) reminisces his love story with his girlfriend and his brief affair with her best friend. An ordinary man (Roberto Benigni) falls in love with being 'famous for being famous.'

A newly married, newly moved to Rome, couple discover brief-sex with strangers and thus their love for each other and their small town.

Love is often said to be eternal. And one of Rome's sobriquet is that of 'an eternal city'. Rome, for Allen, is thus a perfect setting for that eternal feeling we call 'love'. Allen, as always, begs you to ask yourself what love is, how is it different from lust and sex, what is love for something as untouchable as fame or a person's voice.

Allen weaves in different stories, with different themes, all funny and all having a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism and a few with more than a touch of melancholia. In the past, he might have made different films of each of these stories. But he is old and seeped in nostalgia about life. That is perhaps the reason for this medley; call it a foursome love story if you will.

He chooses his own pace in all the stories, rushing through one while meditating on another.

Yet, one of the best thing about the To Rome With Love movie is that it takes an 'old man' like him to have a modern morality in commercial cinema.

In one story, a married man has sex with a prostitute, while at the same time his wife is with an actor and is tempted to sleep with him. In the hands of 'take-no-risk' commercial cinema, she would emerge from the experience as a 'virgin Madonna'. In the hand of Allen, she emerges just like anyone of us would emerge. Allen prevents her from sleeping with the actor ('thank god' the morally upright amongst us will say), but has her sleep with someone else instead in a hilarious encounter.

The last time you had a heroine of a commercial cinema so unapologetically sleep with two men, was in the brilliant 1933 film "Design For Living". Morality in our modern times, have gone far ahead, but cinema has chosen to stay in rigor-mortis on the subject.

Romance and love can be of many types. And it is this variety that he achieves in a light, breezy, funny and sometimes nostalgic manner with a cast, especially himself, delivering praiseworthy performances.